Lynley Mysteries: Undercover op
by Jumaolster
Summary: Lynley & Barbara fluff piece
1. Chapter 1

Winston Nkata was truly deeply mad. Really.

He had NOT joined the police force and worked himself up in order to sweep floors.

He pushed the mop angrily into the dark grey water in the bin, and then pressed it against the trumpet shaped funnel to get rid of the access water. He then proceeded to swob the carrara grey marble floor, every bloody inch of it.

He walked past the large golden framed mirrors and sighed. He looked like a complete dork. He was wearing dark blue polyester pants with a thick grey stripe on the outer side of each pant leg, and a matching dark blue tunic with grey stripes on the handcuffs. To top it off, three gold buttons on his chest glimmered merrily every time he moved, and worst of all, black leather shoes that hurt his feet.

Suddenly he heard soft giggling behind him, and turned around. Barbara Havers was standing on the stairs behind him, definately amused by him grumpy appearance.

Winston secretly thought she looked kind of cute.

She was dusting the railing of the grand marble stairs leading to the first floor of the 5 star hotel they were currently working undercover in, and she had somehow made the transition with an ease that had astonished everyone. She was now wearing a dark blue kneelength dress with white cuffs and a crisp white collar, and a white apron, her hair in a modest braid, and no make up.

Well, the no make up part was no problem for Barbara, since she never wore any, but Winston was surprised at the rest. She'd had no problems whatsoever, she just blended right in, while he was struggling every second to keep up appearances.

Even the Gov was surprised.

Pleased with his Barbara, Winston was sure.

Since Lynley would hardly fit in as part of the staff, he'd taken on the role as a wealthy widower staying at the hotel, trying to deal with the death of his wife. No surprises there, no?

Everyone loved Barb Havers, Winston mused.

The chasseur had brought her a piece of pizza the other day, the Sri Lankan porter had vacuumed the stairs for her, and even the demi de rang had brought her a glass of wine yesterday evening, while she was doing the couverture. Winston was a bit jealous, no one brought him stuff. Except that wasn't true, cause Judith had called him two days ago to help her fill her cart will toilet paper and towels, hadn't she? Judith was from the Domincan Republic, a beautiful woman with hazel eyes, and under normal circxumstances Winston would have loved to date her.

But he'd been too proud, had just brought her the things and left it in the second floor office, for her to do whatever she wanted. He'd been haunted by Judith's dissapointed expression ever since. Not to mention the third floor Chamber Maid Maria had been sniggering at Judith behind her back since that day. He wished he'd been nicer to Judith, it was just that he was now effectively dating Jaz, and didn't want to mess things up----

Winston hated this undercover stint. They already knew who'd killed Viscountess Muccottavia. She'd been pushed off a cliff, close to her English villa at the sea, and had been found only two days later, when her quarreling ex husband had reported her missing. Neither her female assistant nor her factotum had reporter her missing and were now the prime suspects – but they just had no way to prove it, and were there to gather evidence to be able to catch her killers.

Lynley was also using the time to deal with his issues, Barbara seemed content with the situation. Only Winston was miserable as hell. The only thing actually making him feel a bit better was the fact that Lynley had been very irritated with the demi de rang bringing Barbara wine. HAH! Winston thought. _I'm not the only one uncorfortable with the situation... _

Barbara tried to cheer him up, but it was close to impossible...

"Hey, Winnie, what's all the long face about, eh?" Barbara boldy asked, since no one was around, except Lynley sitting qiuetly in the corner waiting patiently for Galena to open the breakfast room door.

It was only 6.45 a.m. after all, and breakfast was served from 7.00 a.m. Winston grimaced sat her.

_Don't get into trouble, girl! _

He thought, but then, at this hour, only a very sleepy receptionist was around, having arrived 10 minutes early for her shift. The night porter had done her a favour the night before, arriving 20 minutes early, and now she'd repaid the favour. She was so tired, she wouldn't notice a train going through the lobby, Winston was thinking.

Poor woman. He knew she worked at another place as well, and had done a 6.30 a.m. to 14.00 shift plus a 22.00 p.m shift to 06.00 a.m before getting to the hotel at 06.30 that same morning. Winston was never going to complain about his hours ever again, he'd told Lynley, who'd just looked amused...

Meanhile, Barbara was working overtime like there was no tomorrow. The second the head housekeeper had realised she was of British origin with no family to speak of, she'd gotten Barbara into a circuit of extra hour work. How often did she find a native speaker with that pretty soft reddish hair, all smiles and health and willing to work?

Winston had had no idea about these poor women working a 18 to 20 hour day in modern Britain, but there is was.

And Barbara, needing to blend in, could not say no.

Her cover story was that of a copper recently being let off, and needing every penny to sustain her mortgage. Pretty close to the truth. She'd been working from 4.30 a.m. to 16.30 p.m. the day before, and then she'd done the couverture from 20.00 to 22.30, and now she was there again, today working "only" from 06.30 to 14.00. Needless to say, the Head Housekeeper had offered her a job as a baby sitter for the evening of those goodness so awful kids of suite 32, and but today, Barbara had said no. She was just too tired...

She'd lost a couple of pounds at least, since they had started their stake out. Eating on the job was not allowed, and during breaks you could eat but you needed to pay for it, as Judith had informed Winston and Barbara, cause if the Director caught you eating and not paying, you'd get fired. At first, it had seemed pretty logical to Winston, but then he'd seen how there was no time to eat, and no time to sit down, and no time to even go to the loo, and he'd started hiding away a sandwich for himself and one for Barbara in the pockets of his tunic.

Once they'd nearly gotten caught eating in the loo, but than goodness for Barbara's quick thinking, she'd pretended they were cleaning out the vent...

Lynley suddenly nodded at Barara, getting up and heading for the elevator. Barbara quickly picked up all her cleaning parafernalia, and headed for the staff elevator at the back of the stairs. Once, the second day, she'd nearly gotten into the guest lift, and had been reprimanded for half an hour by the Head Housekeeper. Never would she make that mistake again---

Winston wished dearly this job would be over soon. They had, in fact gathered a lot of evidence for their case, and were only getting the famous finishing touches done, but Winston was so sick of tired of this.

He wondered why the staff seemed so proud of their work, turning up for all sorts of impossible shifts, at a very low salary, and getting no thanks in return. Barbara seemed to have understood something more tham himself, not complaining once, but Winston was deeply upset with the situation.

Winston took a deep breath, and started swiping the floor again. He really was dying to know what the Gov was telling Barb about the case, but he'd just have to wait...

Lynley meanwhile, got back to his room. He'd had a mental flash, he wanted to discuss it with Barbara right away, and was discreetly keeping the door open for her.

Once, the Head Housekeeper had seen Barbara cleaning the room with him sitting in the chair watching her, talking to her. He found it strangely soothing, watching Barbara bustle about, cleaning his room, putting things into order, making things right again. He'd been just sitting there, stretched out in the chair, talking to her, when he suddenly saw a movement in the corner of his eye. Somehow he knew Barbara was in trouble the second the he saw the Head Housekeeper there. He also knew she was a good woman, who wouldn't treat Barbara badly in any way, but he felt a chill going down his spine. Barbara later told him she'd been severly reprimanded again, but not because of her, but because of him.

Apparently a lot of the male patrons of the hotel somehow considered the chambermaids included in the price, and the Head Housekeeper had filled Barbara's head with horror stories of what could happen to a poor woman, if the the client chose to close the door on them. Never again was she to clean a room alone with a customer present... Barbara had never realised exactly how difficult it was to keep security a priority in a hotel, however she'd seen enough of eveilness in her life to know how true it was, and how right the Head Housekeeper was.

But she couldn't just tell her Lynley was her Gov, no? Even if she wanted to scream; He's not a pervert, he's a good guy, she could not tell anyone. And since then they had elaborated a scheme to talk to each other.

Secretly Lynley loved these little encounters. He'd had more than enough of lonely contemplation, and wished for nothing more than to get back to London and the job, and his office, and being able to talk to Barbara whenever he wanted to. And to be able to call her into his office, and close the door. And to see her in her black dress pants and a nice shirt, instead of the dark blue dress. Even thought, he had to admit, she really looked cute in the work uniform.

Her already slim figure had become even slimmer in the two weeks since their arrival, and she had dark circles under her eyes. She always wore the mandatory beige nylon stockings and the black shoes, and put her hair up in a braid. He liked that.

Barbara entered his room, smiling at him. She knew that if she got caught with him again, she'd get fired, but at this point, she was to exhausted she didn't even care. How did these women do it every day?

Lynley saw how tired she was, and closing the door behind her (first he took a careful peek outside to make sure no one saw them), he put his arm around her and sat her down on the bed. He held her for one second more than was actually neccesary, and she turned her face upwards towards him, looking into his eyes quizzically. Lynley squeezed her shoulder and let go.

Now was not the time for anything but work. Lynley was however, a very physical man, and was longing desperately for some real touch, for some real intimacy, for friendship and loyalty. He'd brought home a couple of women in the past weeks nefore the op, to get back into the game, but nothing was very satisfactory for him. They'd been too young maybe? He'd made the women very happy, he'd made sure of that, but for himself found that something was missing.

The short hug with Barbara was better than any roll in the hay with those women, a little voice in the back of his brain told him. Her hair smelled of fruit and vanilla, he wondered if she'd changed to a new shampoo or if he'd just been blind to her beauty before.

He still missed Helen a great deal, although he was coping much better now.

It would NOT be right to take advantage of Barbara. She'd be willing to be his partner in more ways than the professional, he was sure. But he wanted it to be good, to be right.

He stood up:

"Barbara, I want you to sneek into the suspect's car, and spray it with luminol. If I'm right, and I think I am, they killed her at the house and then transported her to he cliffs in the car, only to dump her down the cliffs. There should be traces of blood in the car still, if that is the case, and that would be the last little proof we need. I'll get a search warrant faxed to me right away, and with a bit of luck, we'll all be out of here by tomorrow."

He saw how Barbara crumpled her nose a bit. He'd been surprised about her ability to blend in, she'd liked it here, he thought. Winston had not, he knew that, it had been very difficult for the tall proud man to bend his head every second of the day and offer a unconditional smile to sometimes unbearable and spoilt guests. But soon is would be over, he smiled at Barbara, who immediately smiled back at him.

"When we're back in London, I'd like very much for you to come and have dinner at my house, Sir, I'll cook anything you like..." Suddenly shy at her own boldness, Barbara reddened and looked down, much to Lynley's delight. Somehow seeing Barbara in a different profession had led him to see her in a different light.

"I'd love to, Barara, " he said softly, rejoicing at her happiness. He then quickly ushered her out of the room and back to her duties. She was to sneak into the garage immediately, since the morning was still slow and no one would probably see her. She brought the mop with her just in case, she could fake cleaning the garage entrance.


	2. Chapter 2

Barbara hoped the search warrant would arrive. It wasn't 100 procedure, exactly, to search the car before it arrived, but Lynley would pull some strings and get it done.

Having finished with the car, carefully taking photographs of everything, Barbara called Lynley on his mobile:

"There are traces of blood in the trunk of the car, Sir, and I strongly reccomend that a team of SOCOs take a closer look. I think we have them on this one, Sir!"

She was delighted. Lynley would be proud of her, and Winston would be happy to be out of there. Barbara herself was a bit ambivalent. She'd actually liked it, the work was very hard, yes, but there was a strong sense of cameraderie and belonging she'd missed lately at the Met, with all the changes and Hillier being after her butt nearly all the time.

She hadn't told anyone, but the Head Housekeeper had offered her a position as her assistant. Barbara had been surprised and quite proud. She'd been there only a couple of weeks, and felt very satisfied with someone appreciating her, instead of always being scared that Hillier would call her into his office and give her a hard time.

She'd told the Head Housekeeper she'd think about it for a day, and since the case seemed to be wrapping up nicely, she would tell her today that she was returning to policing... She probably wouldn't be happy, but then again, Babara had thought things over all night long, and had decided her life was in London, with the Met.

_With Lynley. _A small voice whispered.

She quickly discarded the thought, banishing it to the darkest corner of her heart. That was not allowed, she told herself. _Besides he's not interested in you, why would he be? _Barbara nearly got tears in her eyes. She'd never land a bloke, she felt, let alone someone like Thomas. She really liked that name. Thomas...

She jumped when her mobile chirped:

_SOCOs ok. Pack your gear. L. _

Barbara sighed, and went to talk to the Head Housekeeper.

The conversation actually went better than expected, Anna took it better than she'd thought. A bit disappointed, for sure, but at the end she smiled at Barbara:

"Well, if you ever change your mind, just call me, eh? I've been thinking about opening my own B&B in the outskirts of London, if I ever get there, I'll give you a call!"

Both women laughed. Barbara sometimes felt very much embattled at work, it was truly nice to be appreciated.

"That guest you're always talking to, is he a copper as well?"

Barbara was surprised Anna had noticed, she'd imagined to be very discreet.

"In a hotel, the walls have eyes and ears, everyone knows everything about everyone, you know!"

Anna giggled. She hoped very much it would work out for Barbara, she seemed so smitten with the man.

"He's my Gov at the Met, actaully. He's a widower, for real, and his wife was a total darling, and he's still getting over her. And then I don't think he'd be interested in me, why would he be? I'm nothing he could bring home, for sure. I like him a lot, I have for years, actually. But then there was his wife, and other things, and I don't really know what to do about all my feelings."

Barbara took a deep breath. She hadn't meant to tell all of those things, but somehow it just all came out in a rush. And since she was on a roll:

"I've never really had a relationship, and I don't know how to go about things."

Anna just smiled at her:

"Well, when the right opportunity comes along, just follow your heart. It's better to try than to regret not trying..." The tension was rising, and Anna decided to break it up a bit:

"Let's go have a coffee, you and I!"

Both women walked off towards the little staff room, neither of them noticing Lynley standing just around the corner, having heard the entire conversation.

_Barbara? Really likes me? Doesn't know what to do?_

_And here I was trying to figure out how to deal with things. If I do get together with Barbara, we can't work on the same team anymore, that would not be appropriate..._

Lynley sighed. He decided they should wrap up the case and get back to London first, and then he'd talk to Barbara. He also had an idea about a certain B&B he'd like to invest money in...

He smiled. The hotel business was new to him, but he was sure it would be a brilliant investment. Plus it would make Barbara happy, he thought, if he helped Anna. A win-win situation.

A couple of day later, they had wrapped the case up in a nice bow, putting away the murderers to await trial, and Lynley offered to come to Barbara's place to have dinner and get the finishing touches on the report done over a nice glass of chilled chardonnay. To his delight, Barbara had accepted without hesitation.

Arriving at Barbaras little house, he knocked on the door, and she immediately answered. Her hair was loosley hanging down her back, combed to one side, and she was wearing black jeans and a blouse. No shoes though, he realised, just socks.

_She's dressed up for me_, Lynley thought, and smiled at her. He knew this was Barbara's idea of fancy, and his heart grew warmer because of it.

He helped her with the last touches of dinner, she'd made fool proof ravioli with melted butted and parmesan cheese, and then some grilled veggies with some simple cheddar cheese. Nothing could go wrong, he mused, and was happy she'd wanted to make something nice for him, but without going overboard.

He'd brought two bottles of wine. After Helen's death, he'd initially drunk too much, after which he'd put in a period of 3 months completely without drinking. Now he felt confident enough to be able to drink socially again, and had brought his best chardonnay for Barbara.

At the first sip, she'd moaned out loud. Lynley had nearly kissed her right there and then, but had understood that he needed to wait and be patient. He had decided though, that if she didn't take the first step by the end of the evening, he'd kiss her.

He'd day dreamed all the way over there in the car about their first kiss.

Hasty and light? Followed by a long soft one?

Of passionate and demanding? Followed by him nuzzling her face?

Holding her face in his hands? Holding the back of head with one hand, and the small of her back with the other? Stroking her back?

He'd had to stop, otherwise he'd have gone crazy. _Just flow with the situation_.

By the end of dinner, they'd both had two big glasses of wine ( he'd brought the glasses as well) and Lynley was confident Barbara was sufficiently tipsy to dare a bit more than ususal, without being drunk, which meant he would not be taking advantage of her. He'd started casually touching her by the middle of the first glass, and Barbara had been a bit nervous at first, but had settled immediately.

She looked at him under her long eyelashes:

"Would you like some coffee, Sir?"

He nodded, and they both got up, walking into her tiny kitchenette. It was difficult to move around in there, which worked to Lynley's advantage. He tried crowding her personal space, and when she didn't back off, he stood behind her while she bustled with the coffee.

As she put the pot on, he put his hands on her shoulders. She turned around towards him, putting her hand on his chest. He could see she was a bit scared, but at the same time, not reluctant.

Barbara had noticed he was touching her more and more during the evening, but since he was no where near drunk, she'd decided that he was trying to seduce her, much to her delight. She'd decided to take Anna's advice and just try and see what happened.

He bent down towards her, drawing her close. She closed her eyes in consent, and he kissed her, gently at first, and then when she responded they just stood there, in her kitchen, hugging and kissing.

Barbara felt like she was in heaven. Lynley tasted of cheese and wine, and smelled of his aftershave and washing powder. She must remember to get that brand next time, he smelled wonderful.

The magic was broken off by the coffeemachine beeping at them. They both laughed.

Lynley put his hand under Barbara's chin, and looked into her open face. He saw nothing put content happyness in her shiny eyes. They'd work out the details, and for sure sometimes it wouldn't be easy, but then, life never was.

"Barbara?" He looked at her gravely. He smiled reassuringly at the faint flicker of fright in her eyes, and kissed her forhead.

"Yes, Sir?"

"From now on, call me Thomas, all right?"

"Yes. Thomas..." she smiled at him. Things would work out. Things would be fine. Not easy, but fine.

FINIS


End file.
